The volume, use and complexity of computers and electronic devices are continually increasing. Computers consistently become more powerful and new and improved electronic devices are continually developed (e.g., digital audio players, video players). Additionally, the growth and use of digital media (e.g., digital audio, video, images, and the like) have further pushed development of these devices. Such growth and development has vastly increased the amount of information desired/required to be stored and maintained for computer and electronic devices.
Traditionally, circuit elements have been electrically isolated primarily through the use of silicon dioxide. Typically, silicon dioxide is not only easy to form through thermal oxidation of silicon or by various deposition methods, but also it is easy to reliably etch through both wet and dry chemistry.
Nonetheless, the dielectric constant of silicon dioxide is relatively high. Such high dielectric is an advantage when silicon dioxide is used, for example, as a gate dielectric. However, it can be a disadvantage, when silicon dioxide is employed to isolate, for example, adjacent metal conductors. Put differently, the relatively high dielectric constant of the silicon dioxide can generally cause capacitive coupling between the metal lines. Such problem is especially pronounced in modern ULSI circuits, where metal lines are formed with very small spaces between them. Generally, these lines can extend for relatively long distances in parallel; such as data or address buses. The capacitive coupling can cause problems with high-speed operation and with data errors due to cross talk between the conductors. To reduce the capacitive coupling between elements in the circuit, while still achieving the essential electrical isolation, new dielectric materials have been developed and introduced into integrated circuit manufacturing. These new materials typically are based on organic compounds that may also contain inorganic elements, such as silicon. For example, spin-on-glass (SOG) materials, such as silsesquioxane have been introduced. Amorphous carbon dielectric materials and organic polymers have also been applied in place of silicon dioxide. These new materials reduce the dielectric constant of the insulating layer formed, thus improving circuit performance.
At the same time, a relatively recent type of memory cell is an organic based memory cell. Organic memory cells are at least partly based on organic materials and, are thus able to overcome some of the limitations of inorganic based memory cells. Organic memory cells facilitate increases in device density, while also increasing device performance relative to conventional inorganic memory cells. Additionally, organic memory cells are non-volatile and, as such; do not require frequent refresh cycles or constant power. Such cells can have two or more states corresponding to various levels of impedance. These states are set by applying a bias voltage, and then the cells remain in their respective states until another voltage, in reverse bias, is applied. The cells maintain their states with or without power (e.g., non-volatile) and can be read either electrically or optically by measuring injection current or light emission, for example.
Typically, dielectric patterning for polymers employed in such memory cells, and/or other organic electronic components, can require a series of steps that results in formation of the dielectric layer over the conducting polymer surface. Generally, the larger the number of steps to produce such dielectric patterning, the higher the associated cost and chances of errors. Such errors can create distorted or misplaced patterns that can result in change in the electrical functioning of an organic memory cell so created.
Therefore, there is a need to overcome the aforementioned deficiencies associated with conventional systems for dielectric patterning.